India and Kuwait

·         On July 3, 2008 India and Kuwait concluded a meeting of their second Joint Ministerial Commission, pledging to enhance bilateral ties.

·         The first meeting of the commission was held in November 2006 in Kuwait, following the visit of the Kuwaiti Amir to India in June 2006.

·         The next meeting of the commission is scheduled to be held in Kuwait in 2009.

·         Kuwait accounts for 12 percent of India's crude imports. Bilateral trade volume, excluding oil trade stood at $800 million in 2006-7. Besides, there are over 600,000 Indians work in Kuwait.

·         The State of Kuwait is a sovereign emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west.

·         The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water."

·         It has a population of 3.1 million and an area of 17,818 kmē.

·         Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government and Kuwait City serves as its political and economic capital.

·         Kuwait has the world's fifth largest proven oil reserves and is the fourth richest country in the world per capita.

·         Kuwait's oil fields were discovered and exploited in the 1930s and after it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, the nation's oil industry saw unprecedented growth. Petroleum and petroleum products now account for nearly 95% of export revenues, and 80% of government income.

·         Precisely, on June 19, 1961, Kuwait became fully independent following an exchange of notes between the United Kingdom and the then emir of Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah

·         In 1990, Kuwait was invaded and annexed by neighboring Iraq. The seven month-long Iraqi occupation came to an end after a direct military intervention by United States-led forces. Nearly 700 Kuwaiti oil wells were set ablaze by the retreating Iraqi army resulting in a major environmental and economic catastrophe.